During its Congressional sessions, the United States Congress
considers hundreds of bills and resolutions that are filed
by members of Congress. If a bill makes it through the
legislative process and becomes law, the bill is forwarded to the
Archivist of the United States for filing
and publication. The Archivist assigns a public or private law
number, depending on the type of legislation, and it is first
officially published as what is known as a "slip law." All of the
legislation passed by a particular session of Congress is then
compiled and published in a bound volume of the U.S. Statutes at Large that contains all of
the session laws passed by that particular Congress. Every six
years, all federal legislation currently in effect is
compiled and arranged by subject matter in the U.S. Code.